


wake up (or you’ll wake up six feet down)

by oldpapertowns



Series: chemical christmas 2020 [12]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Episode: s02e07 Zuko Alone, Ficlet, Gen, Songfic, chemical christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oldpapertowns/pseuds/oldpapertowns
Summary: Zuko rides his stolen ostrich horse into a sorry excuse of a town, one that looks like it’s made of dust and dried out wood.Fire hazard,he thinks blearily as he rides through it.There’s a group of men gambling in the shade, and as Zuko makes his way to a store across from them, he locks eyes with one of them. He seems to be the leader, eyes narrowed as he stares at the newcomer. Assesses him.Ignoring the hair at the back of his neck standing up, Zuko stares back steadily, knowing that his scar makes him seem like he’s scowling back. He breaks eye contact in favor of speaking with the person at the counter of the store.(Never let your guard down.)OR: zuko alone, paired with the song ‘killer in the mirror’
Series: chemical christmas 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036416
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	wake up (or you’ll wake up six feet down)

**Author's Note:**

> day 12 of chemical christmas - mirror! prompt list by @saintmichale_ on instagram
> 
> title and (arranged) lyrics from ‘killer in the mirror’ by set it off, dialogue and choreography by the writers of atla
> 
> slightly different from the rest of my chemical christmas works but i got this idea in mind and could do nothing but write until it was done. happy reading!

**_nobody's got your back in this town  
_ ** **_(knock 'em in the teeth now)_ **

**_out here, there's no negotiation / no room to start a conversation / before you get a taste, it's taken  
_ ** **_(never let your guard down)_ **

Zuko rides his stolen ostrich horse into a sorry excuse of a town, one that looks like it’s made of dust and dried out wood.  _ Fire hazard, _ he thinks blearily as he rides through it.

There’s a group of men gambling in the shade ( _ soldiers, _ chimes in Zuko’s brain helpfully), and as Zuko makes his way to a store across from them, he locks eyes with one of them. He seems to be the leader, eyes narrowed as he stares at the newcomer. Assesses him.

Ignoring the hair at the back of his neck standing up, Zuko stares back steadily, knowing that his scar makes him seem like he’s scowling back. He breaks eye contact in favor of speaking with the person at the counter of the store.  _ (Never let your guard down.) _

“Could I get some water, a bag of feed and something hot to eat?” He pulls out the last of his money but keeps his face neutral.

“Not enough here for a hot meal,” comes the not unkind reply. The merchant glances down at the two coins in Zuko’s hand. “I can get you  _ two _ bags of feed.”

Zuko dips his head and hears a snicker to his right. He watches as two kids - gangly, stick-thin limbs, torn and muddy clothes - hurl an egg towards the men behind him.

It makes contact with a loud splat.

“Ow!” The man who now has egg all over his head and outfit yells. The kids scamper away.

Three, two, one…

“Hey!”

There it is.

“You throwin’ eggs at us, stranger?”

Zuko doesn’t bother to turn around. “No.”

“You see who did throw it?” The man speaks again.

“No.” Zuko turns around this time, hand going to his dual dao. The man who spoke is the same one he made eye contact with. Figures.

“That your favorite word, no?” asks one of the soldiers. ( _ Cronies, _ Zuko’s brain supplies.)

“Egg had to come from somewhere,” growls the leader.

Zuko turns back around to the counter, done with their acts of aggression. “Maybe a chicken flew over.”

A soldier laughs, ugly and stuttered.

The merchant finally returns with the bags of feed, but as Zuko moves to take them, a mass of green snatches them off the counter. Zuko turns to face the group of men yet again.

“Thanks for your contribution. The army appreciates your  _ support.” _ He tosses the bags towards one of his cronies then looks back to glare at Zuko, hands balled into fists. “You better leave town. Penalty for stayin's a lot steeper than you can afford, stranger. Trust me.” He pats one of the hammers hanging by his side with a smirk, then turns to leave with the rest of his men.

“Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the Fire Nation. But they're just a bunch of thugs,” says the merchant from behind Zuko.

Not acknowledging the merchant, Zuko makes his way over to his ostrich horse. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but he sure as hell isn’t sleeping here tonight.

A face peeks out from behind his ostrich horse - one of the boys who had thrown the egg and gotten Zuko into this moneyless and feedless mess in the first place.

“Thanks for not ratting me out.”

Zuko ignores him and mounts the ostrich horse, setting off to Agni knows where. Then the face pops up again - in front of the ostrich horse this time.

“I'll take you to my house and feed your ostrich horse for you. Come on, I owe you!”

Zuko from a day earlier would have ripped his reins out of the boy’s grasp. Zuko from today is faint from hunger, as is his ostrich horse, so he follows the boy to his house.

Dinner is fine. Not anything special, but Zuko eats what he’s given and nothing more. The boy (Lee)’s parents, Sela and Gansu, allow him to stay the night in the barn, so Zuko lays on the hay until Lee comes sneaking in.

Teaching Lee about the dual dao is nicer than Zuko would’ve imagined it to be. If he could stay, maybe he would have been able to teach Lee more than the basics. But he’s overstayed his welcome already, so he accepts the food Sela hands him, glares at the soldiers as they deliver the news of Lee’s big brother’s battalion being captured, and gives Lee his pearl dagger on a whim. Maybe it’s because he wants Lee to remember him somehow. Maybe it’s because Lee should have something to protect himself.  _ (Knock ‘em in the teeth, now.) _

Either way, Zuko leaves.

But the moment Zuko hears ostrich horse hooves clopping against the ground, he knows something’s wrong. He sits up and watches a wagon pull to a stop near him.

“You have to help!” says the driver - Sela, jumping out of the wagon. How she found him, Zuko has no idea. “It's Lee – the thugs from town came back as soon as Gansu left. When they ordered us to give them food, Lee pulled a knife on them! I don't even know where he got a knife!” Oh, soot stains. Maybe he overestimated Lee’s survival instinct. Zuko looks away, unable to watch the clearly distressed mother.

“Then they took him away.” She hides her face in her hands. “They told me if he's old enough to fight, he's old enough to join the army. I know we barely know you, but-” she starts sobbing.

Zuko’s heard enough. He stands. “I’ll get your son back.”

**_knock, knock, knock 'em all the fuck out_ **

He refuses a ride into the town, instead opting to ride into it on his ostrich horse. The residents scatter when they see him but he rides past them to the center of town.

Lee’s tied to some kind of tower, and when he spots Zuko, he brightens up.

“Hey!” he calls. “There he is! I told you he'd come!”

The soldiers and their leader (Gao, Gansu had told him, a glower on his face) turn and stalk towards Zuko as he dismounts and takes off his hat.

“Let the kid go,” Zuko says, voice level.

Gao bursts into laughter but snaps back into a glare when nobody else joins him. “Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?”

“It doesn't matter who I am. But I know who you are. You're not soldiers; you're bullies. Freeloaders, abusing your power. Mostly over women and kids.” Once Zuko’s started, it’s hard to stop, his eyes narrowing. “You don't want Lee in your army - you're sick cowards messing with a family who's already lost one son to the war.”

There’s a beat of silence, then Gao turns to a man on his left.  _ Coward. _ “Are you gonna let this stranger stand there and insult you like this?”

The man points his spear at Zuko, posture unsteady, then charges.

Zuko steps to the side, letting the spear stab past him, then grabs the hilt of his dual dao to punch the man in the stomach. The man skids across the ground, then crawls quickly away.

The second man starts sprinting, but Zuko ducks under his spear and grabs the soldier’s face. It’s damp with perspiration under his palm as he keeps moving, pushing the man’s head into the ground. Deeming the man sufficiently cowed, Zuko lets go and straightens up in one movement. The man runs off.

Finding the area in front of him empty, Zuko glances to the left to find the last crony running towards him.

A single kick breaks the spear. The man stares first at the stick in his hand, then at Zuko, then runs away screaming.

The only remaining one left is Gao, who unhooks his hammers with a flourish.

Zuko unsheathes his swords and shifts into a similar position, adrenaline pumping through his body in anticipation of a battle.

_ Here we go. _

Gao strikes first, sending a rock Zuko’s way. Zuko deflects it easily with his swords, impact shuddering through his shoulders as dust rains down around him.

With a grunt, Gao sends three rocks towards Zuko in quick succession. Zuko manages to dodge the first two but the third hits him in the stomach. He doubles over with a grunt then straightens up and charges towards Gao but gets hit in the stomach with a rock again.

_ Falling for the same trick twice, Zuzu? _ Azula’s voice floats into his head as he rolls over his shoulder and stumbles backwards once on his feet.  _ How pathetic. _

Gao attacks again, the rocks growing in size. Zuko deflects all of them somehow, but an avalanche heads towards him. Zuko tries to avoid it. He’s too late, and he gets launched into the air.

He lands hard, and everything goes black.

**_now i know there's no one i can trust / i used to think there was_ **

Ursa’s face appears in front of him, and Zuko’s plunged into the night she left.

His long-lost mother disappears right in front of him -  _ again _ \- and Zuko’s eyes open. They widen once he realizes that Gao’s at his feet, hammers raised.

**_get back, put your hands up, kinda messed up, but it's tough luck / and i'm sorry, but i don't feel bad for you_ **

**_'cause i know if you could switch this / you'd be dishing out the same shit / saying ‘sorry, but i don't feel bad’_ **

Led partly by instinct and partly by desperation, Zuko swings his swords and body in a wild circle, sending fire all around him. Gao is hurled away from him.

Zuko rises with his swords in hand, fire swirling around him. He ignores the horrified faces of the residents, of Lee, and sends a bolt of fire towards the now-hammerless Gao. Gao throws up a rough wall of stone hastily, but it’s not enough. He’s thrown backwards and into the wall of a building, which collapses around him.

“Who-” Gao’s voice is hoarse. From the grunting or the dust now swirling in the air, Zuko isn’t sure. “Who are you?”

“My name is Zuko,” Zuko declares, raising his voice enough for everyone to hear. “Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai. Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne.”

Nobody speaks, but then a man points angrily. “Liar! I heard of you! You're not a prince, you're an outcast!”

Hmm. Maybe Zuko hit his head harder than he would have liked. The flashback didn’t help matters.

The man continues, everyone's attention on him. “His own father burned and disowned him!”

How could these  _ miserable _ people in the middle of nowhere know Zuko’s story better than most people he knows?

Zuko focuses on his breathing instead of the mounting rage and frustration and doesn’t respond. Instead, he walks closer to Gao, who shudders, squeezes his eyes shut, and throws his arms up - to protect himself, this time.

_**tell me that i'm cutthroat / i think you got your eyes closed** _

Zuko says nothing to the man shaking before him, just plucks his dagger from Gao’s pocket. Then he turns and walks towards where Sela is untying Lee.

Sela sees him approach and shoves Lee behind her, a determined look on her face and fear-fueled fire in her eyes. “Not a step closer.” She’s so different from the woman who had come to Zuko, begging him to help, but Zuko recognizes her expression - it’s one of a mother, determined to protect her young.

Lee pokes his head out from behind Sela’s shoulder, so Zuko kneels and offers the dagger to him. “It’s yours. You should have it.”

There’s a scowl on Lee’s previously bright face as he spits, “No! I hate you!”

Then he and Sela turn to walk away without a second glance.

**_feel the fear and swallow back the tears / let weakness disappear_ **

Zuko is left kneeling, dagger still in his hand, pretending the words hadn’t hurt.

That Lee could say that even all that Zuko has done.

The moment Lee realized Zuko was a firebender, his admiration had spoiled, morphed into hatred. All because of something that Zuko couldn’t help being.

_ Bending is in my bones, _ he thinks bitterly as he stands up, patching over the tiny tears in his heart.  _ Not that he would understand. _

**_there's nobody but me here / the killer in the mirror_ **

Zuko knows better than to fight the palpable fear in the air. He turns, swallowing down his pride and tears, setting his spine ramrod straight and keeping his chin high as he mounts his ostrich horse again.

**_'cause i used to believe in justice / a place where there was better judgment_ **

Better to let them think of him as a bloodthirsty, murderous firebender. An ash maker. Doom bringer. It’s not worth it to try and convince individuals of his innocence. Zuko knows that now. Knows that from the countless encounters he’s had with scared, war-torn people.

He knows this, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

Forcibly clearing his mind, Zuko flicks the reins and sets off again.

**_but now i'm feeling so disgusted / by the ‘have its’ and the ‘have nots’_ **

He stops an hour after the sun sets, digging out his oldest piece of bread to eat for dinner. He thinks absently about life at the castle.

The way Ozai still undoubtedly lives in opulence, a feast for every meal in that gold gilded room at the gold gilded table with gold gilded plates. The way some servants are starving but forced to prepare the food in front of them without eating any of it. The way at least half the food goes uneaten and thrown in the trash, even though nearly everyone in the world has experienced poverty at this point.

The way when Zuko had been shut in his room before his banishment, every single one of his meals had been mouthwatering and only of the finest quality, even the bread. Especially the bread.

He compares the bread from his memories to the chunk of bread in his own hand and takes a worryingly crunchy bite, chewing dutifully. It’s gone too quickly, but Zuko lies down regardless for another night of fitful sleep.

He’ll need all the rest he can get if he’s to survive.

**Author's Note:**

> on the avatar fandom wiki thing the earthbender’s name is listed as ‘gow’ but ‘gao’ is better and easier to type. also killer in the mirror absolutely slaps i recommend you listen to it
> 
> thank you for reading!! feel free to leave kudos/comments if you enjoyed! stay safe, stay sane <3


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